Spirit Nights

Easterine Kire, poet, short story writer and novelist, was born in Kohima, Nagaland, a state in Northeast India. In 1982, she was the first Naga poet in to have her poetry published in English. In 2003, she wrote A Naga Village Remembered, the first Naga novel in English.Her novel, Bitter Wormwood was shortlisted for the Hindu Lit for Life prize in 2013 and in the same year, she received the Free Voice Award from Barcelona. In 2016, her novel, When the River Sleeps was awarded The Hindu Lit for Life prize.Easterne Kire holds a PhD in English Literature from Poona University. She performs poetry, delivers lectures on culture and literature, and holds writing workshops in schools and colleges.‘In an extraordinary fury of poems, short stories, histories, novels, and a separate profusion of words and music she calls jazzpoetry, this quietly irrepressible one-woman cultural renaissance has pioneered, nurtured, led and exemplified the modern literary culture of Nagaland, while also establishing herself in the front line of contemporary indigenous literature.’ Vivek Menezes, Scroll‘Easterine Kire is the keeper of her people's memory, their griot. She is a master of the unadorned language that moves because of the power of its evocative simplicity.' Prof Emeritus Paul Pimomo

"A rich festival of storytelling - playful, poignant and profound. Easterine Kire reimagines marvels for new audiences, shining fresh light on ancient wisdom and revealing truths that have united humanity for centuries. A beautiful read." - Ann Morgan, author of Reading Around the World"To read Easterine Kire is to fall under the spell of an easeful, velvety, pitch-perfect storytelling. Spirit Nights brings together the lull of fable, the revelation of allegory, the vitality of folklore and the intimacy of the familial in a manner that is distinctly Kire. This book is especially memorable for a powerful female protagonist whose age-ripened wisdom is needed to save a community on the verge of being engulfed and erased by darkness." - Gayathri Prabhu"Kire presents a multidimensional world of seers, dreams and prophecies." - The Morning Star"Spirit Nights is a story of how the moral balance of community life is made up of delicate elements, and how easily it can get disturbed by seemingly meaningless thoughts and actions. It succeeds in infusing life into a mythological tale of light and darkness, and should be read for its masterful humanising of the didactic." - Scroll.In"A nuanced evocation of the Naga world in all its exuberant magnificence as it uncovers bit by bit, the marrow of Naga life. Spirit Nights uses its encounter with the magical to explore the themes of haunting, love and loss, betrayal and loyalty, and tribe and community while it simmers in an alchemy of the visual and the verbal." - East Mojo"[Spirit Nights] is a complex exploration and critique of traditional Naga culture and the roles its men and women play. From its opening pages, Spirit Nights transports you to a time period often overlooked and spins a tale of village community life, of family and loyalty, of fear and death and of the triumph of becoming the person you were always meant to be. It is a marvellous tale, gracefully told in language as beautiful as the myth that inspired it. Interspersed throughout the main storyline which alternates between the perspectives of two main protagonists (Tola, dream receiver, descended from a long line of seers and her grandson Namu, destined warrior hero), are other perspectives, other stories: tales from the Chang Naga myths and legends, particularly of a time when an all-encompassing darkness covered the surface of the earth lasting for days and days on end. There are fireside tales about doomed lovers, cautionary tales involving mighty warriors who foolishly disregard their seers and accounts of spirit carvers entwined with the story of two brothers who set out to right a wrong done to their mother: these are stories- within- story- characteristic of all oral storytelling traditions. Each tale and each account provides invaluable insight to the novel, adding layers of colour to an incredibly well-researched and well-developed world." - Morung Express